“Weigh Easy”: Use of an At-Home Weight Reporting System to Improve Weight Monitoring in Infants With a Cleft

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness and parental satisfaction of an at-home weight reporting system for the maintenance of weight stability in infants with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP).

Design

A prospective cohort of infants with CLP was provided an at-home scale to track weekly weights compared to a retrospective cohort of infants with CLP that underwent standard weight checks at routine healthcare appointments.

Setting

Tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Patients/Participants

Infants from 0 to 3 months of age who presented to a large midwestern Cleft Clinic with a diagnosis of CLP without a secondary major birth difference.

Interventions

“Weigh Easy” at-home scale and reporting system.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Weight loss or plateau.

Results

Infants enrolled in the prospective cohort (n = 25) were significantly less likely to have a destabilizing weight loss compared to the retrospective cohort (n = 131) (OR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.01-0.60, P = .001 at 30 g/day; OR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.04-0.60, P = .001 at 25 g/day; OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.09-0.61, P = .002 at 20 g/day). Over at least 90 days of data collection, the prospective group had a median of 12 weight changes compared to 4 in the retrospective cohort (P < .001). The Parent Satisfaction Survey (n = 17) revealed 94.1% preferred to weigh their child at home with the Weigh Easy Scale compared to commuting to a publicly available scale and 88.2% would recommend the “Weigh Easy” scale to their friends and family.

Conclusions

Providing parents of infants with CLP with the “Weigh Easy” scale identifies feeding and nutritional needs more quickly than standard weight checks.